The Monster Gene

Ch. 2

The time is 4:54 pm 

It was a boy. Maybe one or two years older than her, but that wasn't important.

What mattered was that he was transparent. See through. There but not really. Like a reflection in the water come to life, only it wasn't her reflection.

"What in the—" Casey dived to the ground for a giant stick, "Stay back!" She warned, threatening the reflection with a stick as if it were actually a weapon.

Was she hallucinating? Yes, that was probably what was happening. It connected to the nightmares lately, maybe she could see a sleep therapist (probably a thing) to figure out what the heck was wrong with her and why she was seeing thing—

"I'm not gonna hurt you."

Casey whirled to the reflection. "Can you hear hallucinations? Am I dreaming that Bri disappeared?"

The reflection sighed, "can we just take this one step at a time? You've got five minutes before your mutation mutates—"

"Mutating!" Casey laughed.

"Four minutes now. It happens at 5:00, 2023, 4 days before All Hallow's Eve." The reflection spoke.

"A REFLECTION IS TALKING TO ME!" Casey yelled out to the whole nature reserve, and continued to laugh, in shock.

The reflection boy's eyes traced the ground, a blue corkscrew vial tied with a pink string on the ground. He levitated it, and splashed it in Casey's face right as lightning slashed in the distance, and rain continued  to pour buckets.

"HEY!" Casey shouted, sprang back to un-insane-ness with a brain, drenched in blue liquid. "Did you just chuck blue kool aid at me?!"

The reflection boy made a highly confused face, his eyebrow twitching. "Why would you think this is kool aid?!"

Casey opened her mouth to respond with a comeback, but her hand twitched strangely. What? She spun to her hand. It was turning transparent!

"No, no, no, it's just the reflection of the sun, making you see things that aren't there, hallucinations," Casey panicked to herself.

But deep down, even though she was trying to shove the truth away, kick out the abnormal, she had to face the reality. 

"Are you a ghost?" Casey whispered, quiet as a mouse.

The reflection boy's head snapped up. "Hey! Right on time. 5:00, you mutate."

Casey wrinkled her nose. "Mutate, like gene mutation?"

Casey slowly bounced forward, her foot crunching a leaf. She couldn't look at herself. The wind blew through her. The stick fell to the ground, she clearly caught it, but it went right through her hand and arm. It started to sprinkle, but the rain hit the ground exactly where Casey stood. This couldn't be happening.

"Am I dead?" Casey whispered, not believing it, taking a few steps back.

The reflection boy's eyes widened in alarm. "We can exchange formalities later." And he swooped towards Casey, snatching her arm and dragging her along like a doll.

"Am I being kidnapped by a ghost?" Casey questioned to herself.

"Affirmative." The reflection boy responded as he yanked her down a hole.

Casey coughed out the dirt entering her mouth, a few leaves from above the surface drifting down and tangling in her curls. That was it, she wasn't getting kidnapped. She made a fist with her free hand and punched the reflection boy in the torso.